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EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq, today attended the inauguration of the Cyber education, training, exercise and evaluation (ETEE) platform at the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), where H.E. Savvas Angelides, Minister of Defence of Cyprus gave a keynote speech. Led by the ESDC, the platform builds on the support already provided by the European Defence Agency (EDA), the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission.

The main task of the ETEE platform within the ESDC is the coordination of cyber security and defence training and education for EU Member States. The existing training will be harmonised and standardised and new courses will close the gaps between training needs and training activities. These efforts will be jointly undertaken by various stakeholders and partner organisations.

‘Looking at the future, the platform’s success is very much in the hands of the Member States. There is much to be achieved and the Executive Academic Board on Cyber (EAB.Cyber) under the chair of the ESDC is an excellent forum to manage the future’, Mr Domecq said in his speech.

In response to Member States’ requirement to fill the skills gap in cyber defence, EDA played an important role in developing the design proposal of this platform, following the results of a relevant feasibility study which were properly adapted to the actual Member States’ needs.

The Global Strategy already referred to cyber attack as a serious threat to be dealt with in order to protect the EU citizens and a threat to national security due to the disruptive potential of these attacks and their high impact on modern societies.

Heads of State and Government identified cyber among the four key capability shortfalls in Europe and Member States in the frame of PESCO already established projects on cyber, where EDA with its role in the PESCO secretariat but also in the frame of its mission for cooperative capability development provides support.

Member States saw the need for coherence at EU level on cyber education, training and exercises already some 8 years ago, and voiced as such within the Capability Development Plan. The EDA has worked on this priority with Member States, within the Project Team for Cyber Defence and with colleagues in the European External Action Service and Cyber was reconfirmed as a priority in the revised CDP.

Based on the EDA Cyber Defence Training Needs Analysis and the experiences gained in cyber security training of the ESDC, work was initiated to establish CSDP Training and Education for different audiences, including EEAS, personnel from CSDP missions and operations and Member States' officials.

The integration of ETEE into the existing structures of the ESDC was concluded and has been taken forward by EDA and ESDC throughout the course of this past year, resulting in a vehicle to enable sustained delivery of cyber defence education, training and exercise services and products, while seeking synergies with respective NATO initiatives, also in the frame of the implementation of the EU-NATO Joint Declaration.